Amusement apparatus.



R. M. 'MURIE.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION TILED JAN. 21, I911.

1,005,06 1 Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

I I: q /6 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MACFARLANE MURIE, OF INVE-RCARGILL, NEW ZEALAND.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT MACFARLANE MURIE, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Invercargill, New Zealand, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Amusement Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in amusement apparatus wherein a structure adapted to accommodate a number of passengers and to partake of rising and falling movements is mounted within a chamber onto a screen within which are projected from a kinematograph views or scenes taken from a balloon, airship, or other aeronautical machine, for imparting to the passengers the illusion that they are really moving in such machines.

The present invention comprises a structure (hereinafter called a lift) for accommodating the passengers mounted in a dark room with facility of rising, falling, and horizontal movements, a plain screen arranged across the field of vision of the passengers in front of the lift in a vertical or inclined posit-ion, and a kinematograph apparatus for projecting suitable scenes or views onto the screen, the screen preferably being so constructed and arranged and the kinematograph being preferably so mounted that the representations of the scenes may be raised and lowered without affecting the focusing thereof, whereby more interesting effects or more realistic sensations are obtained.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a horizontal vertical section; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan.

In the drawings, 1, represents a passenger carrying lift provided with seats, 2, and with closed sides, 3, a closed back, 4, an open front, and an entrance door, 5.

The lift is mounted in a dark room, (3, and the floor of the lift, when at rest, rests on a suitable support, 7. The lift is connected to cables or the like, 8, and 9, respec tively for giving it rising and falling, and horizontal movements. The cables, 8, pass over pulleys, 10, under pulleys, 11, at the sides of the dark room, to a winding drum, 12; and the cables, 9, pass over pulleys, 13, to a winding drum, 14. The rotation of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 21, 1911.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

Serial No. 603,883.

drums may be controlled by electric motors or other suitable means.

15 represents dash-pots or buffers for preventing jar when the lift moves to the extreme positions backward and downward.

16 is a screen facing the open front of the lift and preferably constructed and arranged, as by being supported on rods, 17, projecting from the pivot, 19, of a kinematograph carrier, 18, to rise and fall by describing the arc of a circle. Or, the screen may be made of an elongated formation as shown by the dotted lines 16*.

The kinematograph machine may be arranged below the lift for projecting moving pictures onto the screen, and may be pivotally mounted, as at 19, so that the kinematograph and the screen may be caused to move together. The kinematograph may be con nected by a lever, 20, to a link, 21, pivotally connected to the lift, so that rising and falling movements of the lift cause falling and rising movements of the represented scenes. The movements of the lift may only be small, say, a few feet, but in combination with the moving pictures on the screen they have the illusive effect of making the passengers imagine they are rising and falling or traveling considerable distances.

22 is a roll-up curtain to hide the screen when the pictures are not showing.

23 is a motor and propeller for producing the noises, the rush of air, and similar phenomena incidental to an aerial flight.

It will be understood that the cables, 9, serve to pull the lift out of plumb and that gravity restores it to position.

While it has been provided herein that the lift may be worked by cables or the like, it will be obvious that it may be worked by levers, rods or other means operated by electric, hydraulic, or other suitable power, and arranged to give the lift rising, falling, and horizontal movements.

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent 1. In apparatus for producing the illusion of traveling in an aeronautical machine or the like, in combination, a dark room, a lift for accommodating passengers mounted therein, means for producing rising, falling, and horizontal movements of the lift, a plain screen arranged across the field of vision of the passengers in front of the lift, a pivotally mounted kinematograph apparatus for projecting scenes or views onto the screen, and means connecting the kinematograph to the lift so that the two move synchronously, substantially as described.

2. In apparatus for producing the illusion of traveling in an aeronautical machine or the like, in combination, a dark room, a lift for accommodating passengers mounted therein, means for producing rising, falling, and horizontal movements of the lift, a plain screen arranged across the field of vision of the passengers in front of the lift, a pivotally mounted kinematograph apparatus for projecting scenes or views onto the screen, and means connecting the kinematograph to the lift so that as the lift rises or falls the kinematograph is tilted and its pro jected scene or view is respectively lowered or raised, substantially as described.

3. In apparatus for producing the illusion of traveling in an aeronautical machine or the like, in combination, a darkroom, a lift for accommodating passengers mounted therein, means for producing rising, falling, and horizontal movements of the lift, a plain screen arranged across the field of vision of the passengers in front of the lift, a pivotally mounted kinematograph apparatus for projecting scenes or views onto the screen, means connecting the kinematograph to the lift so that the two move synchronously, and means connecting the screen and the kinematograph so that the two move synchronously and the projected scenes may be raised and lowered without afiecting the focusing thereof, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT MACFARLANE MURIE.

Witnesses:

ALFRED DAY, ARTHUR WALTER DAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

